Attracting Talent with Recruitment Marketing

Employer Human Resources Advice

One of the biggest shifts in the recruitment space over the past year is changing our mindset from traditional recruiting processes to using marketing strategies to proactively search and attract candidates. Successful recruiters are trying new and innovative approaches to secure skilled and diverse talent. Recruiters who only post to Seek, Trade Me or rely on LinkedIn searches to find talent are fishing from the same talent pool as every other organisation looking for staff. Therefore, winning the best talent requires a more creative and strategic approach. This article discusses Recruitment Marketing and offers ideas in which your business could implement to move from ‘fishing’ for talent to a more proactive solution.

Recruitment Marketing is used to market an employer’s brand to candidates, with the main goal of branding your business as an employer of choice. This approach helps employers build awareness and visibility around values and company culture and is a key element in engaging and nurturing potential talent and providing a competitive advantage. Using recruitment tools such as careers sites, social media, employee stories, job ads and employer branding, are all key to delivering a personalised experience which paints a compelling picture of what it is like to work for your company and why they should apply across a variety of different channels or even approach you directly! Whilst this approach is different from your traditional hiring strategies, there are a range of creative ideas outlined below which could help you attract quality applicants.

1) Gaining credibility with employee testimonials
Employee testimonials provide an insider’s viewpoint on the company and this endorsement offers a personal feel and creates trust in your employer brand.

2) Showcasing through social media and applications
With the expanded growth in user-generated content and applications, companies need to adapt their communication strategies to meet jobseekers from a range of different audiences e.g. creating a video featuring your employees and sharing why they love to work for your company is going to be attractive to Gen Z and millennials.

3) Asking employees to share content
Whist employee testimonials are powerful, content created by employees can be just as beneficial. If you have employees who are active on LinkedIn or other platforms, encourage them to create and share relevant content or job postings. Ask your team to share job openings on their email signatures for example, this is a quick and cost-effective approach to get the word out there with minimal effort.

4) Employee referral programmes
One of the best ways to find top talent is by starting with your own employees, and with a robust referral programme, you can encourage employees to share roles with qualified connections in their network. Offer a monetary reward for successful referrals and market the programme internally so all employees are aware of this initiative.

5) Add “day in the life” details to job postings
Giving candidates an insight into what the role will look like in real-life will get them excited about it. Consider adding a section into the job description or advert.

6) Building pipelines of talent
Being able to draw from pools and pipelines of talent is an invaluable asset. This is a group of passive candidates who you’ve engaged who can fill future roles in your company. This sustainable approach saves you time and decreases your overall time to fill.

7) Re-thinking benefits
Aside from remuneration, consider what other benefits your organisation can offer. For example, the ability to work in cross-functional teams and the potential for internal growth could be a huge drawcard for applicants looking to advance in their careers. Having the opportunity to be involved in sporting events or volunteering could be attractive for some. For others it could be a bonus if you have arrangements with local businesses offering discounts or for someone else having flexible working hours could be very beneficial.

8) Enabling job alerts
Stay connected with potential candidates by offering job alerts that keep them informed about upcoming opportunities. With the option to opt-in, candidates can choose the specific jobs they want to hear about and receive email notifications directly.

9) Re-engaging past candidates
Why not consider reaching out to past candidates? You could create an email campaign to get in touch, which could indicate that they were in your system due to a previous application and inform them about the current opportunities. Additionally, you could kindly ask them to recommend someone from their network. This approach allows you to leverage existing connections and engage with potential candidates.

10) Recruitment Events
Events can be a great way to get prospective candidates interested and are a marketing and branding opportunity which may lead to referrals or future interest. Some recruitment event ideas could be: * Hosting a job fair/expo showcasing the different opportunities available
* Planning a lunch and learn session with presentations from your company
*. Sponsoring professional development workshops, webinars, community events etc
* Hosting an open day to interactively show off your company/office/team.

Many organisations are competing for talent in what is shaping up to be one of the toughest labour markets in decades. What is your business doing outside the square to find quality applicants?